Dec. 3, 2003

Charleston, SC - Andy Miller's not one to brag. But when the subject is LeBron James, he can't help himself.

"I'm pretty sure I got a piece of him once or twice," said Miller, a 6-10 sophomore center on The Citadel's basketball team.

This was back in the day, before the NBA draft, before the endorsement deals and all the "King James" hype.

"Back then, he was a freshman in high school, just a quiet kid who stayed out on the wing and shot 3-pointers," said Miller, who played high school ball at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio. One of his school's rivals was St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, the school LeBron James made famous.

By the time James was a junior and the squads met again, LeBron fever was at full go.

Everyone knew he would skip college to do directly from high school to the NBA, and Miller got a first-hand look at what the hype was all about.Bulldogs have faced LeBron, Yao "He was big time by then," Miller said. "No one could stop him. He was great. He covered every aspect of the game."

Miller is not the only Bulldog who has shared the court with one of the world's best-known basketball players. Freshman forward Aaron Xia, who moved to the U.S. from China when was 15 years old, grew up with Yao Ming, the 7-foot-5 superstar of the Houston Rockets.

"I've known him since I was four or five years old," Xia said. "He wasn't real tall then."

Ming, who is 23 years old, was 5-7 in the third grade when he was selected by Chinese sports officials for a basketball program. Yao Ming's mother, Fang Fengdi, played on the Chinese national team with Xia's mom, Yuan Xia.

Xia's father was coach of the Shanghai Sharks and played with Yao Ming's dad, Yao Zhiyuan, who is 6-10. Aaron Xia was Yao Ming's teammate on the Sharks.

"You just threw the ball into him, and he scored very easily," said the 6-8 Xia, who is 19 years old. "He was the best player in China. Now that he plays for the NBA and not the Sharks, we miss him.

"He' gotten a lot stronger and a lot tougher in the last couple of years," Xia said. "And a lot richer."

Xia actually moved to the U.S. before Yao Ming started playing for the Rockets. Xia joined his mom, who had married an American and moved to Washington. Then, the family moved to the Houston area, where Yao Ming was playing with the Rockets.

Xia graduated from Clearbrook High School, where he averaged 15 points and nine rebounds as a senior. Xia visited Yao Ming at Rockets practices and games and maintains contact through Yao's parents.

"Yao doesn't have a cell phone," Xia said. "He uses his mom's cell phone and when I call him, his mom picks up the phone."

Xia hopes to join Yao Ming on the Chinese national team next summer, and is even talking about bringing Yao Ming and the Shanghai Sharks to The Citadel. But the foul-prone freshman has a ways to go before approaching Ming's status as China's best player. He's averaging just 4.5 minutes per game for the 2-2 Bulldogs, but is learning quickly.

"I've gotten a lot better playing here in the U.S.," he said.

Miller also is making strides, having started the last two games at center.

In Monday's 72-62 loss to Appalachian State, he had eight rebounds (five offensive), two blocked shots and a steal in 18 minutes.

"Andy's getting better, and we're going to keep throwing him out there," Citadel coach Pat Dennis said. "He plays with a lot of enthusiasm and energy, and he wants to be a good player. We're just going to keep playing him and playing him and if he makes mistakes, he's just going to play through them. We're going to make a good player of him before he leaves here."

No matter how their college careers turn out, both Miller and Xia can someday tell their children tales of LeBron and Yao Ming.